One of the biggest complaints about BFA was that the writers held far too many details close to their chests. We still don’t have the motivation of Sylvanas, who was functionally the main antagonist of the plot starting with the inciting Burning of Teldrassil. The Horde was also left with a big question mark as to when they would start inevitably resisting and night elf players were frustrated by how few signs there were of the Teldrassil plot continuing.
To avoid repeating the same mistakes, what do you think Blizzard should get out there quickly that they might otherwise hold on to in order to stoke speculation and maintain the element of “surprise” for twists?
If I remember right, I think they said in one of their interviews that they’re aware of that problem so somewhere really early in SL is supposed to be a big exposition dump where Sylvanas finally cuts out all the crap and monologues to the player about why she’s doing what she does.
In my opinion the big elephant in the room:
New capitals for NEs and Forsaken being number one.
After that, hm probably what the hell Sylvanas goals are. But that will be addressed pretty shortly after release.
Which for me is the ultimate hint that she is indeed evil.
If she is scheming some plot against the Jailer or so she wouldn’t shout that out just to get his attention in his realm.
Beside that SL itself is rather uninteresting storywise. It is too disconnected if you move away from the plot surrounding the abducted faction leaders and Sylvanas.
So an epilog of BFA would be what I want to know.
Where do Horde and Alliance stand. How does the peace treaty affects regions like Gilneas, Ashenvale, Lordaeron.
How exactly are the nobles of Stormwind acting. What are the NEs doing currently, we know about Tyrande, but what is the rest doing?
What is happening within the Horde with loyalists, how does the Horde react to teh Forsaken now? What are they doing.
For me there are so many lose threads from BFA that I honestly don’t care for what happens in Draenor 2.0
I disagree that SL is inherently uninteresting and not worth exploring because the WC afterlife has been a big question mark for a long time and we’ll be working with / saving souls of characters we care about who happened to die like Uther, Ysera, Kael’Thas, etc. These aren’t alternate versions of the characters, they are the characters.
That said, I agree that they should be doing more to hint at the future of the night elves and forsaken, in particular. Last I heard they’re still discussing that and haven’t decided. But it’s not a great time to set up two very interesting new status quos for the Horde and Alliance - newly unified and newly fracturing, respectively - then just sort of leave them behind for 2 whole years.
I can see why they might be vague if they really are preparing for a timeskip but we should still be seeing more conceret set-up to where things are going to go and we shouldn’t have to wait for patch 10.0 to see it.
Don’t get me wrong, it is surely woth it. But as long as the bigger questions that are directly lying infront of me aren’t answered. I have issues to actually care what happens in yet another other dimension to some strange worlds.
The second issue I have with Shadowlands is: It is complete retcon of the previous believes.
There is no light afterlife, there is no eternal hunting ground for Orcs with their fathers, etc.
The closest thing we have is Ardenwaeld but even that is basically retconning the whole emerald dream story and it also retcons the promises Elune made to her followers. I mean Elune even intervened in Yseras death for her to just be in Ardenweald like every other nature connected sould would end up anyway.
Yes we have hints that Elune is somehow connected to that but still.
Even with a time scip Blizz could say that NEs are preparing to plant a new tree, or Forsaken are preparing to cleanse the plague in Lordaeron. Just something … because for now we only know NEs seem to be at Hyjal currently and Forsaken still in Ordgrimmar.
But having these lose ends just wrangle in the air because of a shiny new expansion feels completely stupid. Especially when BFA was such a dumpster fire that created so much issues.
There is a very large implication that those realms do exist. The five we go to in SL are the ones that are most important to keeping the afterlife running. The rest are, presumably, the heavens/hells of the various races and faiths throughout the WoW universe.
The rest I agree with. They really need to wrap BFA up.
I mean, not really. It’s something that can explored later on, but it’s not really important at the moment. With a INFINITE number of afterlives in the Shadowlands, they exist, we just aren’t visiting them as they aren’t important to the story.
My question has a legitimate claim to the Alliance’s very bland story telling. There’s tons of races that don’t get nearly enough attention or focus, while the Horde feels involved. Humans need to get the Orc Fatigue treatment, preferably for the next three expansions.
That’s not what this thread is about at all. It’s more along the lines of, “Which plotlines need to be wrapped/expanded, which secrets need to be revealed,” etc.
“Too many humans” doesn’t add much to the conversation and is what most threads on this forum that get more than 20 posts derail into no matter the subject, anyway. It’s really annoying.
That does look like a funny situation recently with Genn, Anduin and Jania though Tyrande or Velen have their own mission away with their people and we shouldn’t ignore it. Potentially we’ll have more from the Windrunners since Turaylon is in command.
Is the Cenarion Circle still intact? Are Hamuul and Malfurion still in good terms? What role will the guardians of life take in the upcoming battle against death? Did the Circle and Earthen Ring manage to heal the wound in Silithus?
Something I think is really very important to clarify is the situation surrounding souls, necromancy and the dead in general. It’s really rather hard to marry pre- and post-Shadowlands in this regard: did Sylvanas’ val’kyr get those night elf souls from the maw, in Darkshore? What about Bolvar raising the final lot of DKs?
It presents a very difficult continuity problem, and I reckon that’s the #1 thing that just be addressed by the expansion.
He’s saying you’re not posing a question that needs to be answered in story. i.e. “What’s next for the Night Elves and Forsaken?” is something that was woefully addressed in BfA. “Will Anduin suffer any consequences for his pacifism?” is a question that could use an answer. “Humans suck, have less of them” phrased as a question isn’t really one that counts.
